Page 266 - The Chief Culprit

Red Army, Black Gulag Uniforms y 227

“lumberjacks” were frequently not even issued military uniforms. at was why Stalin had
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replaced the commander of the 24th Army with the “chekist” Rakutin.
e armies of the Second Strategic Echelon, which included the “black” divisions and
corps, began forming in June 1941. ese divisions and corps began their movement west
on June 13, 1941. German troops encountered the “black” divisions and corps in early July
1941 Every army of the Second Strategic Echelon was created specifically for the purpose of a
surprise arrival at the western borders. Each army was located on a major railroad route. Each
was formed in the vicinity of concentration camps: men there were used to order, didn’t ask
for much, and it was easier to take them out of the camps than out of the villages—all were
already gathered in one place, organized into brigades, and, most importantly, it was impos-
sible to take men out of the villages without stirring rumors about mobilization and war.
Stalin needed everything to proceed quietly, without rumors. at was why he wrote the
TASS announcement. at was why men were in due time taken to concentration camps,
trained and disciplined, and then sent to the front without fuss. If in early July the German
army met divisions and corps filled with inmates, in the armies coming from the faraway
Urals and from the Siberian and Trans-Baikal provinces, it means that Stalin handed weap-
ons to the inmates before June 22, 1941. e main question that German command had
to answer was: If we do not attack, what will Stalin do? Take away the weapons from the
inmates, return them to the GULAG, or send them home? Or perhaps Stalin had some other
options for using the armed inmates that were secretly gathering at the German borders?